Malaysia launches third Maharaja Lela-class ship

Malaysiaʼs third LCS, the future KD Sharif Mashor , seen here at its launch ceremony. (Malaysia MINDEF)

Malaysia has launched the third Maharaja Lela‑class littoral combat ship (LCS) programme, marking another milestone in a project that has faced repeated delays and scrutiny.

The ship, named Sharif Mashor, was formally launched at the Lumut Naval Shipyard (LUNAS) on 10 February, the Malaysian Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) announced on the same day.

Sharif Mashor is the third vessel in the class derived from Naval Group's Gowind design and follows the first-of-class, the future KD Maharaja Lela, and the second-of-class, the future KD Raja Muda Nala.

Like the earlier vessels, Sharif Mashor measures 111 m in overall length and displaces around 3,000 tonnes.

The ceremony for Sharif Mashor comes slightly more than six months after Raja Muda Nala's formal launch on 3 July 2025, an event that followed the ship's technical down slip on 8 May 2025.

Maharaja Lela underwent its technical down slip on 23 May 2024, nearly seven years after an earlier “launch”ceremony in 2017 that did not place the ship in the water.

As with the first two hulls, Sharif Mashor will be equipped with the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile, MBDA VL MICA aerial-defence system, a BAE Systems 57 mm Mk 3 naval gun, MSI‑Defence Seahawk 30 mm guns, and J+S 324 mm triple torpedo tubes.

Its sensor suite incorporates the Thales SMART‑S Mk 2 radar, Rheinmetall TMEO Mk 2 TMX/EO fire‑control system, and the Thales Captas‑2 low‑frequency variable‑depth sonar for anti‑submarine warfare.

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